urban management structure in Iran with emphasis on physical changes of the Cities

Urban management as a local institute is responsible for the supervision and controlling over physical changes of the cities. In connection with this, the subject which is managed is the space and the set of the activities that take place in it. Playing this role requires appropriate levels of political-managerial decentralization and sufficient authority for policy making, decision making, planning and performance at local level. According to this view the present research has analyzed the urban management structure in Iran. The components of this research include political-managerial decentralization styles, elements involved in urban management based on the source of power, domain of tasks and finally the spatial domain of urban management. Results of the study showed that concentration in managerial structure of the country has led to a constraint on urban management authority in urban issues. In this relation, investigating the urban management structure in Iran represents the domination of the governmental elements in policy makings, planning and spatial management of cities and the weakness of the inherent position of the municipalities and the city council in the process of urban management. The results of investigation about the official duties of urban management elements and their spatial domain indicated disharmony and fragmentations in urban management structure. These sparsities have been discussed in the field of guidance and control of physical-spatial changes of the cities in administrative, political, territorial and policy areas.